Poems and Short Stories!

SnowFlake! (Happy End)

Cold...

So Cold...

This was the cold that made your heart shiver and toes go numb, the kind of cold that swirled in your hair and blew through your clothes. This was the cold that belonged in the most frigid, somber corners of the Earth, where even the most ferocious of creatures hid from the bitter weather. This cold was that was too be avoided at all and any costs. This was a cold to be feared.

But in this eternally frozen over hell, one brave soul did wander. Little Kaden hugged his arms tightly to his body, trying to trap in his warmth and block out the tundra's frozen winds. The air nipped at his bare face and waltzed through his coat. His feet and hands had gone dull in their senses, numb to the bone from the bittersweet winterland's insistent beating at his gloves and boots. But this did not stop him from pushing forward with determination deeper than that of the unmarred snow beneath his overwhelmed leather boots.

Step after unsighted, disoriented step, Kaden made his way through the unsullied knee deep snow. A sodden grimace sat upon the boy's blue lips, his teeth chattering with chilled clacks. The little boy's eyes were glazed with tears that dared not fall, for Kaden knew they would immediately turn to ice. An unseen root snagged the brunet's soggy boot, causing the cold boy to trip and fall into the snow, thrusting his hands first as his body followed. With still surprise, Kaden found he could not feel the icy sting of the piercing snow on his numbed hands and face.

A choked sob escaped from his frosted mouth, and his fingers grabbed at the cold nothingness. This was the result of a hide and seek game. Kaden had wandered a bit too far than what was safe, and was now lost in the overcast tundra of a forest, with nobody to console in. With a grimace that pained his sore, swollen lips, the little brunet boy forced himself to stand one more and continue his seemingly endless trek. In a fruitless attempt, he rubbed his snow covered hands on his jacket, noting how pale his fingers looked against the crystal flake covered blue of his coat.

Kaden brought his iced hands up to his pale blue lips, blowing his warm breath onto his numb fingers, noting how the heat bordered painful. His hazel eyes scanned at the endless white, the only change in the vast terrain being barren trees covered in the same material. No other signs of life showed, for all creatures knew better than to venture out into the harsh weather. The 7 year old continued on his unmarked path, roaming into the boundless tundra with no freedom in sight. Waves of anxiety and sorrow engulfed his small, trembling form, the loneliness of the empty forest finally embedding itself under his skin. And so, the bottled tears held within him began to cascade down his cheeks in frosted droplets.

As Kaden cried quietly to himself, and only himself, he finally uttered his first word since he strayed into the forest. "I want my mommy..." The words were soft and broken, altered by the brittle air and mournful despair.

The boy hugged his arms tightly around himself in a mock hug of warmth, reminiscing the sweet taste of heated soup and the kisses his mother gave him before he drifted into a comfortable sleep. But no matter how hard he dreamt and remembered, Kaden was not in his mother's embrace. Kaden was not in his house, sitting by the warm glow of the fireplace. And he most certainly was not in his bed, snuggled deeply within the cover's reassuring embrace. Out here, Kaden was bared to the iced fury of nature, a fury that pulled at his warmth and seeped into his boots.

But Kaden did not grow discouraged. He was determined to find his way back into his mother's hold and his bed's sheets. And he most certainly was not going to give up on the soup that awaited at the dinner table. So he trekked on, heading in the direction he was sure lead towards his home. From the corner of his eye, the snow moved in an irregular manner, and Kaden paused mid-step. Perhaps it was from fear or curiosity, but he dared to meander closer to the unknown. Beady black eyes stare up into Kaden's own hazel ones, and the world seems to sit still for a few years.